Helping Peel a Layer
by friendsidol5
Summary: Beckett needs an idea for Castle's birthday present. Random future fic. R&R


AN: Just a random little idea that I finally had time to write. I'll explain more at the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Castle_. Some _Castle_-adjacent things I do own are a _Firefly_ and a _Dr. Horrible_ shirt, a Serenity car decal, and an iTunes pre-order for _For Lovers Only_.

**Helping Peel a Layer**

"I need your help Lanie."

It was times like this, when her best friend burst through the heavy metal doors without warning that Lanie Parish was glad that she was already working with a dead body. God forbid she hurt someone because of Kate Beckett's abrupt entrances.

"Geez girl. Give me a heads up the next time you decide to practically kick the door open."

"Please, I barely touched it." Kate replied, moving to sit on the empty table near her friend's desk.

"Maybe, but I happen to work in mostly silence with a number of sharp objects that could cause me a great deal of pain should I flinch at the wrong moment." Lanie stated, noting her place in her current file and placing the folder to the side.

Pausing to process what her friend had said, Kate conceited, "Touché, Lanie. I'll be sure to warn you the next time I hurriedly rush to seek advice from my best friend."

That's all I ask. And don't think I didn't hear that sarcasm you just slipped in there." Lanie settled back in her chair and finally looked at the detective. "Girl, why do you look so frantic?"

"Rick's birthday is in three days and I have absolutely no clue what to get him."

"How is that possible? You've been together for three years; you've known him for three more before that. You must have some ideas." Lanie asked, slightly disbelieving.

"I've had plenty of ideas, Lanie. The problem is that I've done them all. I've done the t-shirts or the DVDs or the surprise dinners. I need new ideas, so, come on, give me ideas." Kate looked at her friend expectantly.

"Really, Kate? Do I look like Google to you? How am I supposed to know what to get Castle? He's your boyfriend."

"Actually you're more Yahoo! Answers than Google. Look I already tried a murder board approach to this and it didn't work so now I'm trying the sounding board method." Kate replied looking a little more crazed than she had five minutes ago.

"How do you know that I don't have work to be doing?" At Kate's glance at the empty tables and raised eyebrow, Lanie conceited. "Fine, I'll help you. So tell me, what's the best idea you've had?"

"Tickets for him and Alexis to go to Comic-Con."

"Well that seems perfect. Why not just do that?"

"Ever since he started the Derrick Storm comic, he gets invited for free." Kate replied dryly.

"Oh, yeah, that kind of ruins the plan." Lanie stated. "Okay then lets think about this. I'm sure he'd be fine with anything. Why not just get some new lingerie and surprise him after dinner?"

"Because I just did that for Valentine's day..."

"And?"

"And it's only been a month and a half. It'll make me seem lazy."

"Fine. We'll keep thinking then."

Sitting in silence for a few moments, Lanie suddenly looked up at her friend with a light in her eyes.

"What Lanie? Do you have an idea?"

"Maybe. Since the day the two of you met he's been all about learning about you. You mentioned the onion layer conversation once. So tell me, dear detective, are there any layers he hasn't quite reached yet?" Lanie finished, a questioning lift to her eyebrow.

"Lanie, you're a genius. Thank you." Kate stated after a moment. Rushing to hug her friend and head toward the door, Kate continued. "I got to go Lanie. I have a phone call to make."

Slightly flustered by her friends sudden departure Lanie called out, "You're not even gonna tell me what you just figured out?"

"Not even a little bit."

"I hate you a little bit, you know!"

"You love me. See you later Lanie." And just like that Beckett was out the doors as forcefully as she had entered them.

**Three days later...**

"You didn't have to get me anything, Kate." Rick stated looking down at the wrapped box in his hands and then at his beautiful girlfriend.

They had just finished a quiet dinner at home and were settling on the couch with dessert.

"I know I didn't have to, but we both know that no matter how much we tell each other not to buy stuff, neither of us is going to stop." Kate stated turning towards him. "Besides, I didn't actually pay for this." _Yet_, she finished in her own head. "Just open it."

The change in Rick was instant. As soon as he started to open the wrapping paper, he was like a kid at Christmas. Quickly clearing the plain box of its cover, Rick was confronted with a stack of six individually wrapped items, all the same size.

At his slightly puzzled look, Kate spoke up. "You didn't think I was really going to make it that easy for you, did you? I've seen you and Alexis on Christmas, remember?"

Not deterred by the extra work, Rick smiled as he turned back to the gift and quickly removed the paper from the top item in the stack.

Kate was watching Rick's face as he froze, staring at the object in his hands. As his brain seemed to process the first gift, and start working once more, Rick placed the item on the table in front of him and quickly unwrapped the other five parts. Setting them all on the table and sitting back Rick turned to Kate, shocked and confused.

Sitting on the coffee table in line were six framed incredibly familiar book covers, each with one huge difference. The teasing silhouette from each Nikki Heat cover was now in detailed color, and each body behind the glass in all her glory was, without a doubt, Kate Beckett.

"What? How? Why?" Rick stuttered looking over at Kate. "I thought you hated the covers? Why would you recreate them?"

Kate smiled, clearly not offended by his confusion. "I had a feeling you wouldn't quite understand. I didn't recreate them Rick, or Photoshop them. I just had someone at the studio remove the silhouette."

Rick still looked confused. "Wait, what?"

"It's not that difficult to understand Rick. I've always said I'm not Nikki Heat but I have been her, in a way, the whole time." Kate partially explained.

"That's not possible. It can't be." Rick stumbled out, trying to make sense of this new information. "I was at every photo shoot. It wasn't you in front of the camera. I would have noticed that."

"No, Rick, you were at _a_ photo shoot, just not _the_ photo shoot." Kate smiled as she finished explaining. "When you started Nikki Heat, Gina had someone come meet me. I know; it shocked me too. Anyway, the person I met with had the idea for me to be on the cover. I'm not a prude and the idea of having a little control over the whole thing was appealing to me. I just didn't want anyone to know it was me.

"The publishers, though probably not Gina, were persistent, so I agreed to do it, so long as no one, including you, knew it was me. So, they had someone pitch you the silhouette idea and they agreed to recreate the photo shoot process for you to attend. It's been our little secret ever since."

"Why didn't you tell me, once we started dating?" Rick asked, slowly smiling now that he understood. "And why would you keep giving me grief about the poses if you're the one deciding it?"

"I had a cover to keep. As far as you were concerned, I hated the idea. I thought about telling you but, I kind of liked the idea of knowing something about Nikki Heat that even her creator didn't know." Kate smiled, as Rick leaned in to give his girlfriend a kiss. "I was a little worried you would get suspicious when _Heat Rises_ came out, when my hair had finally grown out."

"Thank you. It's more than perfect." Rick smiled back before his eyes got wide and his face worried.

"What's wrong, Rick?" Kate asked, seeing the change.

"I need to go to every book store, everywhere. Now. I have a lot of Nikki Heat books to go hide."

Kate just laughed at the serious look on his face as she pulled him back to the couch. It didn't matter that he knew the truth. It was still a secret to everyone else and now they got to look forward to some very interesting photo shoots.

**The End**

AN, Part 2: Okay, so, the idea of Beckett actually being the woman behind the silhouette, without Castle knowing, has been a random idea that I would love to happen on the show. I didn't give it too much thought until the _Heat Rises_ cover art came out. To me, the model's hair looks longer, much like the significantly longer hair Stana Katic has grown since _Naked Heat_. I'm just sayin'.

So this is just the outcome of my very own conspiracy theory of sorts. I typed most of this at Starbucks on my phone so any mistakes were mine. I don't love the title but oh well. I'm on Twitter and Tumblr if anyone is so inclined to look me up.

Let me know what you thought. Feedback really does help with future ideas.


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